


ERROR: Verdandi

by cjr09



Category: Eldemore
Genre: Alternately titled: the Elderwind and the Faded Galaxy are the best wingmen ever, F/M, First fanfiction ever, Or even: Video games make everything right in the world, Or: The Glitch and Verdandi are silly children who should just kiss and make up already
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-25
Packaged: 2018-03-08 06:05:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3198194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjr09/pseuds/cjr09
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Glitch has been around since the beginning; but he's never met anyone or anything quite like Verdandi, and Verdandi feels the same about the Glitch.</p><p>They hate each other immediately.</p><p>(That's what it is, right?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by the lovely and talented Startedraining and Sphye on Eldemore~

The Glitch has been around since the Beginning.

 

There are Ancients older than he, of course- there’s always a prologue to the beginning of a story, written or otherwise- but nevertheless, the Glitch has been around since the Beginning. With order that exists there must be chaos, and when the universe suddenly existed with a particular order, the chaos was immediately there. It was his nature to be chaotic, it was in his blood.

 

The Glitch has been around since then, however, he didn’t know everything that happened throughout the ages--he is a busy Ancient, after all--but partly because it’s not his job to learn, it’s his job to watch for openings to send the world into chaos for the sheer thrill it gives him. He is the Glitch, after all, and no one likes glitches; the next best thing is of course, to be feared. The fear was the greatest aspect, he thought, causing distress and rage was great; however the _fear_ was the satisfactory part of his job.

 

And the people fear him- no matter their race- and all is well until Time decides to spawn some children.

 

And he does mean to use the phrase _spawn_ since Ancients aren’t _born,_ per say, and these ones seem to be particularly annoying, much like insects. The one known as ‘Past’ almost immediately, at least by Ancient standards, sides with the new influx of ‘Users’- annoying children, they are, and they’re disturbingly patient with both him and his antics - and he’s finding it harder and harder to find openings in their defenses to create some of the chaos he’s so fond of, especially considering they had found his glitch-like clones, and hold them as prisoners. It was ridiculous how these creatures had even managed to be captured by mere humans; not even the humans from their own realm. They had simply offered the clones the magical orbs known as _baubles_ , and they had succumbed to greed.

 

They are perfect clones- a disturbing likeness that he doesn’t appreciate, and he feels that they do not appreciate it either. However, he does find out how to create his own versions of these ‘Users’ the other Ancients and humans are so fond of--Cheaters, they’re called, and they have he gives them the ability to make copies of the pets the Users’ own. This, they are not so patient with; he delights in their frustrated attempts to stop him, but as he can always create more, they can create more of their Glitch-copies the Users themselves so desire.

 

The Users don’t much like the taste of their own medicine and he revels in it.

 

~

 

It’s the second Yuletide the Users are around that he meets her.

 

She is Present- another one of Time’s children, and he immediately regrets not paying her more attention. She is ever shifting to fit her ever-shifting position in time, though she seems to keep a certain form around the Users she’s decided to side with; humans, avians, wolf-kin, it matters not- a mortal couldn’t comprehend the sheer amount of time that passes them by, how much changes every time they do even the most menial of tasks. Look too close at the ever-shifting present, and be swept away in Time’s march.

 

In a fit of blind anger at the injustice to her beauty, he finds the smallest opening in their defenses and does as the Glitch does best.

 

He doesn’t even take them down for a full day, but the Users do seem much more put out by this latest attempt than they usually are and he delights in it.

 

They don’t pay him any more steed after the glitch he so carefully creates is fixed and he only gets angrier that they don’t fear him as the other humans do. Present- she prefers to be called Verdandi, he learns- doesn’t brush it off with the humans foolish forgiving nature.

 

He’s not horribly inconvenienced by his human form- it’s rather useful for gleaning what small amount of intelligence he can gather from the humans- and he’s human when Verdandi appears in front of him; he doesn’t recognize her at first; she’s in human form like he is, and she hated her human form with about the same passion she hated him with. Even her human form seemed to grace the universe with such unique epiphany- he was stunned. In his confusion, he opens his mouth to ask her what she’s doing here- and in her human form, no less- but she doesn’t give him that chance.

 

She punches him with one dainty fist that ends up being not so dainty and knocks him to the ground. She glares at him with the purest set of eyes he’d ever seen, before turning sharply on her heel and shifting back to Ancient form to stalk away from the scene.

 

The Glitch stays on the ground in a daze for a bit because he’s been around since the Beginning and he’d _never_ been hit before. He didn’t particularly like it. It infuriated him, and yet, sparked his interest.

 

He doesn’t cause any problems for the Users for a bit (absolutely not to avoid Verdandi’s wrath) and watches the Users (Verdandi) more closely than he usually does.

 

~

 

He can see why Verdandi- despite her initial disdain- chose to side with the Users. 

Foolish though they are for unleashing Oblivion upon the world, they’re brave and they look upon him with courage and not fear. It’s almost admirable. Such a trait is not found in the creatures, Ancient or other. They’re very kind, these Users- they offer him shelter and food if he asks, no matter the form he takes or the potential cost to them. If he turns his attention away from the Cheaters and his Glitches to focus more on the Users; well. No one has to know.

 

~

 

The Glitch meets Verdandi again, and again and again after that- it seems she’s very fond of the Users. She is fond of the life they bring to the changing land she, and he, calls home. It is mildly disturbing, this kind of interaction. Since the Beginning he was the chaos and destruction and bent on breaking everything the humans build and stand for- it was his nature, his calling.

 

He can feel her eagle-eyed and ever-shifting gaze burning into his back every time he attempts to interact with them the way she does, and fights not to feel afraid of her and just the tiniest bit intrigued.

 

He loses.

 

It is as if she is watching his move, ready to place an angry little fist into his jaw if he steps out of line. He never thought he would be running and avoiding a creature’s anger so avidly. It again, infuriated him. No one should have this power over him; not even the Present.


	2. Chapter 2

Verdandi has not been around since the Beginning.

 

Close to it, yes, of course; she was created a few thousand years before humans, avians, and wolf-kin, though it matters not; they’re all Life’s children anyway. She had existed long before then, but her psyche and her purpose and her physical appearance had not been brought to life until these creatures existed. Before then she had been a wisp of air brushing through the trees, or the solid form of an early plant; because Ancients are powerful, yes, but they can’t make something out of nothing.

 

There was an existence before the Beginning where some Ancients had been born, but there was always something before and always something after; much like herself and her siblings- the Future always beared down, just around the corner but just out of reach, shrouded in mystery and unclear. The Past, just behind and clearer than the Future, but clouded by a person’s perception and their own thoughts and prejudice; even if history is written by the winner- the Ancient of the Past carries only the truth, even if people don’t always see it.

 

The Present couldn’t lie.

 

She could simply be the Present- whatever it was, happy or sad, bright or dark, she could only _be,_ without covering or clouding her purpose.

 

She was ever changing and ever moving, and she was either the embodiment of the darkness in the world or the embodiment of light and everything in between.

 

Verdani is ever-changing and ever-moving to encompass her forever shifting  transformations and her place in Time’s march. She takes the form of those who die those who are born and those who live in the ever-changing moment that is the Present. Her human form tends to remain mostly the same, and the odd feeling of _continuity_ makes her uncomfortable. She is Present; the Present shifts like she and the thought of not doing so sends a shiver down her shifting spine. It was how she existed. She was alive with the change. To think not to change was... unfathomable.

 

~

 

She had always paid close attention to the Glitch.

 

He’s not like Oblivion- he’s made for chaos, yes, but his talent was for mischief and irritation rather than destruction and death. He avoids bringing any actual _harm_ to the Users like he was avoiding the plague or someone’s wrath- he’s a curious being, indeed.

 

But he has the power to turn their entire world on its head- his actions affect the Past and the Future and even manage to affect the Present in a way no single being should have the ability too- he changes the lives of so many with a whim that she can’t help but feel threatened by the Glitch. She’s forever angry that in the more solid form she takes to reveal herself to people, her wings look like the Glitch’s.

 

~

 

At first, she doesn’t like the new ‘Users’ that are allowed into her land.

 

They’re humans- no magic of any kind- and they’re primarily younger ones, but they see every creature of Eldemore as something amazing and magical; no matter the size or magical ability- they don’t look down on the indigenous humans or the half-bloods or the Wolf-kin like so many of the others that draw more from her land than they. They raise any and every creature of the land, and with it, restore life to what Oblivion once destroyed and what was only now beginning to recover from.

 

Past decides to join with the Users almost immediately, and Verdandi can’t say she’s shocked.

 

(They’re humans, like the ones that are indigenous her land, but they’re so, so much more.)

 

~

 

Verdandi takes back every kind thought she gave the Users.

 

They’ve released Oblivion upon the world again- and that Phoenix the Users had taken to calling ‘Steve’- why was beyond her- had helped them do so.

 

Oblivion was the reason there were so few of his kind left; the reason that the Future had predicted their extinction.

 

Verdandi watches the Users and one of the last of the Phoenix with critical, shifting eyes- if both the Past and the Phoenix had decided to put their faith in these Users, perhaps she would too.

 

~

 

They’re brave enough to face Azara’s wrath during Yuletide, despite the Rune’s temper and talons; all in the name of the pets they’re so fond of.

 

She creates copies of herself to accompany them because while they’re nowhere near as powerful as the original, they could defend their User against Oblivion’s current power.

 

Though it seems they have nothing on the Glitch’s.

 

(He does as the Glitch must do, and sends the Users away from their realm. She’s not sure how or why, but she does know that with him around, the Users can’t stay in Eldemore.)

 

The glitch doesn’t last for very long, and the Users have brushed off the Glitch’s attack with the grace they normally do.

 

Verdandi does not.

 

She tracks down his human form- he’s not difficult to recognize, even as far as humans go he stands out- with his very pale skin and very green eyes and very bony body.

 

(She punches him without bothering to explain herself, but she’s sure he got the message as he doesn’t show his surely bruised face for a while.)

 

~

 

The Glitch settles back and seems content simply watching the Users and their interactions with the other Ancients and their various creatures and their Ancient-copies.

 

She, in turn, watches him.

 

He doesn’t seem like she’d imagined; they’d spent many a millennia in the same existence, but they’d never formally met and while she knew of him and his powers, she’d never introduced herself. He spends much of his time alone, simply watching. For what, she didn’t know.

 

She’s struck with the thought that chaos must be a lonely realm and swiftly ignores any form of sentimentality or pity that comes with it. The Present can be as lonely realm as much as any other, but there’s always something new and different in the next second.

 

(It then occurs to her that the Glitch’s powers don’t work like hers- the glitches themselves may change with the times, but the Glitch himself does not.)

 

~

 

They cross paths more frequently, after that- they both follow the Users closely, so they’re bound to meet once or twice as they watch the Users and each other. She’s fond of the life and the joy the Users bring, and the slowly brighter Present they create with their every move. It’s odd, the interaction between the two Ancients- from near to the Beginning, she was the Present, no matter what it would bring; death and life, destruction and creation all at once; and from the Beginning he has been that chaos if not destruction that shaped it.

 

She watches him with her eagle-eyed gaze and shadows his every step when he got too close to the Users and their homesteads, surely burning into his back as he attempts to interact with the Users the way she and the other Ancients do and fights not to want to watch him out of curiosity and not suspicion.

 

She loses.

 

She’s angry at what an effect he can have on the world should he wish it; nothing should have the ability to affect the Present as he does; she watches him closely, waiting for him to step out of line again so she can plant a fist in his face and throw him back where he belongs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo since I've actually finished the story I've decided I'll just update every two days, rather than swamp you with the entire thing right off the bat.
> 
> Also because it makes me feel more official that way.


	3. Chapter 3

It’s disturbingly human of him, what he does next.

 

He’s known they had other ‘clones’ of the other Ancients, but he hadn’t known they had the clones of _Verdandi._

 

He finds every opening he can and glitches.

 

It’s childish even by human standards but he can’t help but feel angry and put out by this.

 

(It’s much like the him-clones; they’re him, sure, but they’re not _him._ There’s only one of him and there’s only one of Verdandi- but he’s angry that they even try to replicate her.)

 

(He steadfastly ignores the reasoning in the back of his head whispering, ‘ _You weren’t angry about the other Ancients. What’s so special about her?’)_

 

(He also ignores the quieter but somehow stronger voice that answers ‘ _everything.’)_

 

~

 

Verdandi punches him again for his childish act and looks at him like he’s the scum of Eldemore.

 

(He supposes, in a way, he is.)

 

~

 

He doesn’t visit the Users nor does he see Verdandi again for a while and spends a lot of time in his human form.

 

The Faded Galaxy Ancient finds him and cheerfully informs him he’s acting like a teenage human with a crush and he throws a nearby pinecone at her head. He misses, of course, and the other Ancient simply laughs at him and wraps her arm around his bony shoulders.

 

(She does share her headphones with him and they listen to the terrible ‘pop’ music the Users had brought to their world and criticizes it with him until they’re both in tears from laughing.)

 

~

 

The Glitch _does,_ actually, have some friends among the other Ancients; two, namely.

 

The Faded Galaxy and the Elderwind Ancients- who seem to enjoy teasing him more than they want to help him.

 

Some of the Ancients with human forms buy themselves houses and the Elderwind lets him mope around on his couch for a bit and both the Faded Galaxy and the Elderwind tell him horrible jokes and play bad music until he finally cracks a smile.

 

(He supposes he’s grateful for them, the horrible friends they are. They’re his only friends, and he’s pretty sure that there’s worse he could do than the two of them.)

 

~

 

He takes back everything he ever said about actually liking his friends.

 

They’re horrible people and they will _pay_ for this.

 

He’s in a place absolutely swarmed with Users and stuck in his human form because if he were to change now someone would see him and he wouldn’t be able to visit with the Users so clandestinely anymore.

 

The Users are celebrating… something, but he’s not sure what. They’re either really early for their arrival anniversary or very late for the Cherry Blossom Festival,  so he asks one of them what they’re celebrating and they tell him that it’s the Day of the Glitch; because even if he tries to take them down, he makes them stronger for it and they’re grateful for him.

 

(He suddenly hates his human form with the same passion Verdandi does hers because his human form is stupid enough to _blush._ )

 

He finds the Faded Galaxy and the Elderwind talking with the humans later and glares them down.

 

The Elderwind laughs and takes a photo of his red face with one of those ‘cell phones’ and the Glitch has to all but crawl on the taller Ancient to get the offending phone away from him.

 

(He doesn’t know what to do with it, even if he is the Glitch- he never paid much attention to the silly things the Users brought, and he regrets it now.)

 

He settles for scrambling the data inside beyond recognition and angrily handing it back while the Faded Galaxy Ancient and the Elderwind laugh harder than he’s seen them do in a while.

 

(He fixes it later, just minus one photo.)

 

~

 

It’s only after he realizes he hadn’t seen Verdandi- or her clones- among the Users though he thinks he remembers a pair of gold eyes tracking his movements.

 

~

 

He starts looking more closely at the contraptions the Users bring more closely, after that; he doesn’t want to be caught off guard again.

 

He ends up being glad he does.

 

Some of them are inane and useless- like those odd things called _toasters-_ but some of them are sheer brilliance. Video games, for example.

 

(There’s a racing game he plays with the Elderwind and Faded Galaxy Ancients occasionally and while they’re all far too competitive and the Faded Galaxy shoves her foot in his face when she’s losing and the Elderwind shouts far too loudly it’s his favorite game. Plus, if one of them manages to get ahead of him the batteries in their controllers will very suddenly run out.)

 

~

 

Even if it still hurts when he thinks of Verdandi disliking him (defending the Users, no doubt, even though he won’t admit it he’s grown fond of them and wouldn’t really try to _hurt_ them anymore) he decides he’s fine with his terrible friends and the lumpy couch he’d claimed as his own and his games and the occasional glitch (There’s only so long he can go, after all) and that Verdandi can hate him as much as the humans do; the Glitch cares not.

 

(At least, that’s what he tells himself when he’s left playing his video games alone.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter than what I was hoping for, but I couldn't find a way to lengthen it without taking away from the overall theme of the chapter. Anyway, hope you enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

Verdandi visits the Faded Galaxy Ancient one day.

 

If she’s surprised to see him, she doesn’t show it- he is not so collected.

 

(He’d been playing the racing game against the Elderwind at the time and in his shock his fingers slipped from where they’d been glued to the buttons and before he knew it the Elderwind had passed him.)

 

She’s in her human form again- she looks irritated, though whether it’s at her form or his presence, the Glitch doesn’t know- but the Faded Galaxy doesn’t seem to take heed and continues chatting about whatever new song she’d learnt from the Users, flicking through her music box excitedly.

 

(He later remembers that it’s called a MP3 Player and the Faded Galaxy teases him about his brain glitching out whenever Verdandi was around. She’s not exactly wrong, but he punches her in the shoulder anyway.)

 

The Glitch forces himself to tear his gaze from Verdandi and tries to refocus back on his game.

 

He fails and loses to the Elderwind, who for once, doesn’t lord it over him while Verdandi’s there.

 

(He does afterward, but the Glitch isn’t really paying attention- far too focused on his own thoughts, confusing as they are- so the Elderwind trails off. The Glitch doesn’t notice until he realizes the Elderwind is staring at him with a slowly widening grin and a look in his eyes that should probably concern him.)

 

~

 

It really, _really_ should have concerned him.

 

The Elderwind invites Verdandi over to play video games and he ends up crushed next to her on the couch, trapped between the Elderwind’s hulking frame and the Faded Galaxy’s smaller but louder one.

 

(He and Verdandi tie for last place; she because she has no idea how to use the controls, he because he has no idea how to act with Verdandi around.)

 

~

 

Verdandi turns out to be a sore loser and demands they play again until she understands the controls.

 

(The Glitch would offer to show her the controls but he’s pretty sure she’d punch him again.)

 

~

 

Eventually Verdandi learns the controls well enough to pass up the AI’s and take on the real challenge of her fellow Ancients.

 

The Glitch has recovered himself enough to refocus on the all-important task of destroying the competition by this point, and shows Verdandi no mercy. He’s pretty sure that she’d hit him if he did; the Present seemed to be as competitive as the Glitch was.

 

She gets the hang of the weapons and she and the Faded Galaxy (unfairly) team up to blast the Elderwind and he off of the road in turn; they’ve only the three controllers, as they’ve never needed four before, and the Glitch isn’t very fond of sharing, especially when the Faded Galaxy is very clearly cheating.

 

(The Glitch still wins; he doesn’t even cheat this time.)

 

~

 

They settle into a sort of truce; the Glitch rarely glitches the Users out of Eldemore, and Verdandi doesn’t hit him again.

 

(Unless he cheats when they’re playing the racing game. She hits him _hard_ if he so much as thinks about it; and the fierce competition between the two is _not_ friendly, whatever the Elderwind may say. They’re not quite friends but they’re not quite at each others’ throats- they’re not quite sure what they are, other than the bitterest of racing rivals.)

 

They always play, of course- they move past the racing game to puzzle solving games and virtual board games and they always argue fiercely but their tag-team is impeccable.

 

(Neither want to think about what that means.)

 

~

 

They get another controller so that they can all play at once and it feels like acceptance.

 

(Of what, the Glitch doesn’t know.)

 

~

 

All isn’t right in the world- Oblivion is still breathing down their necks and the Glitch still comes around every once and a while and blocks part or all of the Users’ abilities and the storms of the Present still appear on the horizon.

 

But the Glitch has his terrible friends and the four controllers and a slowly growing video game collection and a lumpy couch that as uncomfortable as it is it feels like home when the other Ancients join him on it.

 

He has the Present and all the wonder and misery and change she brings with her like a hurricane.

 

(But most importantly, he has Verdandi and she has the Glitch, and their tag team is as good in the real world as it is in the virtual one, and despite the threat the Future brings they’re sure they can face it together.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end~ I hope I fulfilled the shipping requirements, even if my chapters ended up being short and it ended up more ambiguous fluff than full-on shipping.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and if you have any requests for future pairings or stories leave them in a comment or PM me at cjr09 on Eldemore~

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think it was so bad for a first go at this whole fanfiction thing, but if I've messed up horribly in someplace, write me a review and I'll do my best to fix it.
> 
> Anyway, this should be about four chapters; I'll try and update every three days or so. Thank you for reading, and please review and tell me what you thought!


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